Hey guys! I have had an amazing week even though the weather has been a bit wild. Sunday was a scorcher, but a bunch of us still went out to experience some of the things that Berlin has to offer. We went to Mauerpark which had a huge flea market, food vendors everywhere, and live music. People were selling hand-crafted jewelry, all sorts of art, and clothing. It was absolutely beautiful and such an amazing experience. I loved seeing this side of Berlin and the different cultures. There was such a variety in culture there from types of food to style of clothing. There were so many people since the weather was nice outside, but I am definitely going to go back again.

After Mauerpark, we went to the Badeschiff which is a pool in a river. It was such a hot day, perfect for swimming. We lounged out in the sun and had a blast. I went swimming for a bit and the water was cold, but refreshing. We watched people rowing kayaks and paddle boarding in the river. I did get sunburnt because I didn’t have sunscreen and the plans were a bit spur of the moment, but overall, the experience was unlike any other. My sunburn is still not completely gone either.

I thought that perhaps I might talk a bit more about my work. tbd* is a bit difficult to explain to people because it is a social business. Recently, they rebranded from The Changer to tbd* which means “to be determined”. tbd* is an online platform that brings people together so that they can find the right opportunity to get involved and change the world. They focus on various aspects of life to make work better, smarter, and happier in order to bring together the bigger picture. They produce content like articles (that I write!), publish events, and showcase jobs. tbd* also tries to build connections with various organizations to help them. It’s sort of a symbiotic relationship.

This week, I worked on organizing a giant spreadsheet of leads. Leads are potential companies or organizations that we have discovered and they are used by our sales team to make money. One of our salespeople contacts them and sends them a pitch about our work. We make most of our money through selling job listings, publishing other events, and hosting our own events. However, it takes a lot of time and effort for the salespeople to build connections. The rapport is a very vital part of the process. When people decide to list something on the site, it is done for a limited amount of time and cost is determined by some factors such as length, prominence, and details. A recent development regarding job listings is that we are about to start reports to keep our clients aware of how their listing is performing. I’ll be in charge of those!

I work on the editorial side of the company. That means I help develop content like articles in order to attract attention to the site as well as providing interesting information to our readers. I write about themes such as lifestyle/wellbeing, working smarter, new innovations, career advice, and insight for employers. It’s extremely exciting to be publishing articles and seeing my name on them.

I live for exploring Berlin on the weekends and seeing different parts of the city. You can only see them once you look a bit closer and have been here for a while. But I do enjoy my job. My coworkers are friendly and funny. I like my work even if some tasks aren’t the most interesting. Accomplishing goals is such a brilliant feeling. My bosses are so understanding and encouraging. For example, our wifi went out Thursday so we got some ice cream and called it a day, opting instead to do home office Thursday and Friday. Time is flying by and we are more than halfway through the program. I’m eager to see how the second half plays out.